On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:29:59 -0400, John Smith
wrote:

One of the kitchen lights was flickering and there was noise
coming from the switch when the light was flickering. I removed
the cover, preparing to replace the switch.

Before doing anything, I first measured the voltage. The voltage
between the bottom (hot) black wire and ground was 110 V. That's
what it should be. When the switch was in the ON position, the
voltage between the two black wires was 0 V. That's what it should
be. When the switch was in the OFF position, the voltage between
the top black wire and ground was 0 V. That's good.

However, when the switch was in the OFF position, the voltage
between the two black wires was between 86 and 88 V (the reading
kept changing.) This switch was in a 3 gang box. The other two
switches all had 110 V between the two black wires.

About a month ago, I had another light problem in the bed room.
And the voltage between the two black wires was also around 88 V.

Why isn't it 110 V?


Maybe a loose connection. Check all wire nuts in the circuit, I bet
you'll find a loose wire somewhere. I'd be concerned about arcing
issues and possible fire hazard.